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closeRep. Jan Angel outlines road to recovery
Legislator: More taxes on business
Nate Hulings
of the Gateway
Getting people back to work and making the state a viable place for business are a few of the most vital steps to reviving a sluggish economy, state Rep. Jan Angel told a group of business people last week.
Angel, R-Port Orchard, said a looming $2.6 billion state budget deficit is the result of plugging past budgets with one-time stimulus dollars and unwise spending. She spoke at a public affairs forum on Thursday at Cottesmore of Life Care in Gig Harbor during the weekly Gig Harbor Peninsula Area Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event.
Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed budget, which lays out cuts to education and health and human services, is an emotional ploy to raise taxes, Angel said.
The proposal we’ll hear next month is “buy back budget,” Angel said.
Those cuts include but aren’t limited to: elimination of Basic Health, Apple Health and educational funding planned to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through fourth grade.
“It’s setting us up to say, ‘Maybe I will pay more taxes (to fund programs),’ ” Angel said. “I think that is just wrong.
“Now isn’t the time to have any more burden on people who can’t take it,” she said.
Her plan? More efficient work at the state level and spending freezes. Unfunded state mandates for programs also must end, she said.
Angel laid out general ideas to get the economy back on track. Among those were to revitalize the job market and to protect current jobs. She also said the state needs to take a close look at the many layers of government regulations, especially in the small business sector, plus more options for health care and an increase in transparency in the budget process.
“I’m going to do everything I physically can to reform (business) regulations that are on your back right now,” Angel told the crowd.
Spending priorities should start with education, public safety and funding for our most vulnerable population, she said.
Angel spoke at length about businesses and their role in economic recovery. She said increases in workers compensation taxes, Labor & Industry rates and the Business and Operations tax are making it harder for businesses — especially small businesses — to stay afloat.
“Our state can’t take for granted what businesses will stick around,” Angel said.
The first-term legislator used the example of Boeing moving its second 787 production line to South Carolina as a prime example of what’s wrong with the state’s relationship with business.
Businesses are being wooed away too easily, she said.
A sharp increase in the state’s workers compensation tax is just one example of how business is being hurt in Washington, Angel said. She quoted figures in the past 10 years: The tax has increased more than 50 percent, while Oregon’s has dipped nearly 18 percent, she said.
Angel said South Carolina would have to increase the same tax 100 percent to reach half of Washington’s rate.
Angel also is working on a bill that would give small, family-owned businesses the same exemptions as family farms.
Job creation and getting people back to work will provide more dispensable income and more revenues for businesses, which will impact the overall health of the state, Angel said.
The U.S. Department of Labor shows the national unemployment rate hovering at 10 percent, while Washington state comes in at about 9.2 percent, according to the state’s Employment Security Department.
Despite the tough news out of Olympia, Angel remains confident the private sector will drive economic recovery.
“We’re survivors,” she said. “We’ll fight to the end to keep the doors open.”
A 60-day legislative session is scheduled to begin Jan. 11, during which the Legislature will have to balance the $2.6 billion deficit.
Public affairs forum
The Gig Harbor Peninsula Area Chamber of Commerce sponsors a weekly public affairs forum at 7:30 a.m. at Cottesmore of Life Care in Gig Harbor, 2909 14th Ave. NW.
Thursday: No forum on Christmas Eve
Dec. 31: State Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor.